Hexaware Q4 profit drops 14.7% due to sharp fall in margins

Hexaware Technologies posted a profit of $18.8 million for the quarter ended December, down 14.7% on quarter-on-quarter basis hurt by a sharp fall in margins.Megha Mandavia | ET Bureau | February 08, 2018, 09:49 IST

Shares of the company closed at Rs 355.25 apiece on Wednesday on BSE. The stock has gained 6 per cent in value in the last 3 months.IT services firm Hexaware Technologies posted a profit of $18.8 million for the quarter ended December, down 14.7% on quarter-on-quarter basis hurt by a sharp fall in margins.

“The fall was expected. The profits were impacted by onshore and offshore wage hikes. There was also a little impact from the loss from two clients in the third quarter,” said R Srikrishna, CEO, Hexaware Technologies.

Hexaware said it expects revenue and profit to grow in the range of 10-12% in 2018. The company’s revenue grew 15.6 % and profit grew 23.5% in 2017 in dollar terms in 2017.

Srikrishna said the company has a robust cash & cash equivalents of $86.4 million as on December 31, which may be used for acquisitions.

“We have built up a reasonable war chest of cash. We can also raise more capital through debt. We have identified 3-4 themes for acquisitions. We are looking to opportunities, but we are going to be very careful. We are not under any pressure to acquire for growth,” said Srikrishna.